Last time on "The This Old House Hour": A satellite mishap caused the episode scheduled to air at 7 p.m. to be replaced by a replay of the season's first episode. The new episode, which aired later in the evening, opened with host Kevin O'Connor taking an architectural tour of the French Quarter with Lary Hesdorffer, director of the Vieux Carre Commission. At the main project house in Holy Cross, master carpenter Norm Abram reviewed progress on the new side porch, and homeowner Rashida Ferdinand stripped paint from her historic windows and sampled new exterior paint colors. With color consultant Louis Aubert, O'Connor toured nearby Preservation Resource Center houses, and both O'Connor and Abram pitched in at Musicians' Village.

Pocket review: O'Connor crossing railroad tracks near the river as a flatcar carrying what appeared to be a military transport vehicle rumbled past was an interesting choice for an opening visual. Conversely, the tour of quiet Bourbon Street homes subtly countered that thoroughfare's bawdy reputation (and, coming the week after Mardi Gras, well-timed). The wall-raising ritual at the Musician's Village, whereby Habitat for Humanity workers signed their frame as artists might, was a terrific detail.

Flashbacks: None, unless you count the French Quarter tour, which is always an adventure in time travel.

These things they got right: The French Quarter looked as squeaky-clean as the Disney version. And the two sequences highlighting out-of-town workers helping us restore was pitch-perfect. In one, an Oklahoma-born, Texas-residing subcontractor helped Ferdinand side her house. In the other, Habitat workers from Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan were seen hard at work at the Musician's Village. A collective thanks to all.

Reality check: Viewers of the "Comic Relief" New Orleans benefit might've recognized the Holy Cross paint jobs that Louis Aubert explained. Those houses were also featured in Billy Crystal's remote reporting from the same street for the 2006 cablecast. Also, is St. Louis Cathedral really the "spiritual core" of New Orleans, as Hesdorffer suggested? For part of the population, no doubt. But could also probably get votes ranging from Preservation Hall to Audubon Park to Congo Square to the Superdome to Dooky Chase to Galatoire's to the ruins of the Lower 9th Ward.

Overnight ratings: Not as good as they could've been at 7 p.m., I'd bet.

Next time on "The This Old House Hour:" Same as last time, kind of. The current schedule calls for WYES to repeat the lost Feb. 7 episode at 7 p.m. Feb. 14, followed by the scheduled Feb. 14 episode at 8 p.m. In the new episode next week, airing at 8 p.m., according to the show's publicity department: "Master carpenter Norm Abram takes host Kevin O'Connor across the Mississippi River by ferry to Algiers Point, home of the first "This Old House" project back in 1990, to see how it faired during Hurricane Katrina. Back at the 2008 project in Holy Cross, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey shows Norm the plumbing layout, and how HVAC contractor Raul Mena is planning on heating and cooling the house. Across town in Broadmoor, Norm and Kevin lend a hand installing windows with the non-profit group Rebuilding Together, who are renovating a house for wheelchair-bound homeowner, Sonia St. Cyr, at no cost to her. At Musicians' Village, Branford Marsalis shows Kevin around and introduces him to the youngest resident in the village, saxophonist Calvin Johnson, who joins Branford in a duet of "When The Saints Go Marching In." Despite the wreckage at our jobsite, landscape architect Brian Sublette starts working with Rashida to draw up a plan for her yard and gardens."